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We use it as a very good source not only for information on professionals but also for the information on legal actions in our industry. Having access to the court documents is important - as too many rumors tend to push the truth out of the situations.

I think that website is very useful for keeping people up to date on legal action in this industry, but not much else. I don't think enough people use it otherwise for it to provide useful rating information. At least for my area, there are very few that have any info listed even though there are PLENTY of places that could be rated.

Rate My Horse Pro is very useful tool

Originally Posted by AlterMe123

I think that website is very useful for keeping people up to date on legal action in this industry..

I agree that website is very useful tool. I love the legal case information, education and the articles in the industry are great. I really liked the fact I could look up trainers in my area. There is no other website like it where we can get information on different areas and vendors of the horse industry.

For the specific legal activity, yes...provided you follow up and read the resulting decisions as well as consider many businesses do get sued at some point so that alone is not a death knell in selecting trainers.

But the rating part? Anybody can say anything they want and it's just opinions.

Doesn't hurt to look at it but only as part of researching who you might want to do business with.

No. I think their business model makes the ratings section virtually useless.

I somewhat agree with this. Maybe.

When you rate a place on there you go through a lot of criteria. Some of which you may not have ever thought of or particularly care about. A lot of it is like communication and friendliness type stuff. The problem is that nice, friendly people can run crappy barns. You can be truthful and rank their communication and attitude aspects really well and then negatively rank the conditions of the farm and the lack of amenities, and the place still comes out with like 4 out of 5 stars. Is that a really nice barn you describes? No. It's a crappy place. The people are nice, but you'd never want to board there.

If you're reading through reviews actually look at each rater's specifics so you can see exactly where the place is lacking. If you're writing a review on the place leave a comment that blatantly states if the place is no good.

If you're reading through reviews actually look at each rater's specifics so you can see exactly where the place is lacking. If you're writing a review on the place leave a comment that blatantly states if the place is no good.

I admit, I've never seen their forms. I *might* have bought into the idea of CC verification for people wanting to leave ratings, but the fact that they require people to fork over a CC number just to *read* the ratings makes the site useless IMO. The people I would want my reviews to reach the most (rank beginners) are not likely to pay to play, especially not when it takes very little research to realize one of the biggest complaints about the site is the lack of reviews.

[QUOTE=Halt Near X;6721386]I admit, I've never seen their forms. I *might* have bought into the idea of CC verification for people wanting to leave ratings, but the fact that they require people to fork over a CC number just to *read* the ratings makes the site useless IMO. QUOTE]

I think the point of the $5 is 1. to prevent spam bots 2. prevent pissed 14 year olds from rating barns/trainers and 3. prevent spur-of-the-moment, regrettable reviews. Anyone who bothers to pay that $5 probably has something legitimate to share.

I do agree that I wish people could read full reviews without paying though. If you're a rank beginner or coming into a new city/state, the site is probably going to provide you with the most honest reviews on places and people.

I think the information they post on law suits is very helpful. I tried going through the rating process and it was tedious at best. If it were as simple as just writing a review, that would be fine but the forms are long and often not relevant. I gave up.

In my area, there were very few ratings (when I tried it). Most of my referrals are from people I know and whose opinions I trust. I don't put much stock in one or two reviews from the general public. If there are many reviews, I can see a trend; one or two and you don't know what those peoples point of view is. It is too easy to have your friend leave a positive review or have a disgruntled person leave a negative one. I think that unlike product reviews, reviews that address people tend to be taken more personally.

While this was in a different industry there was recently a law suit brought against a reviewer for something she wrote on Yelp that accused a contractor of theft and shoddy work. He sued her for $750,000! I suspect that will have a dampening effect on all review sites moving forward.

I think they have a good idea, it just needs some fine-tuning to make it work. For example, if they were to build a barn database, it would be a great way for local/smaller barns to get free advertising with the ability to put up pics of their farm, bios on the trainers, testimonials of the clients, etc.

THEN people could come in and rate them. I agree with an earlier poster about looking for specific factors that are being rated (barn care, knowledgeable staff, whatever) instead of looking at the overall rating to see if you think the barn is worth checking out and fits you/your horse's needs.

When you rate a place on there you go through a lot of criteria. Some of which you may not have ever thought of or particularly care about. A lot of it is like communication and friendliness type stuff. The problem is that nice, friendly people can run crappy barns. You can be truthful and rank their communication and attitude aspects really well and then negatively rank the conditions of the farm and the lack of amenities, and the place still comes out with like 4 out of 5 stars. Is that a really nice barn you describes? No. It's a crappy place. The people are nice, but you'd never want to board there.

If you're reading through reviews actually look at each rater's specifics so you can see exactly where the place is lacking. If you're writing a review on the place leave a comment that blatantly states if the place is no good.

My thoughts exactly. I rated 2 trainers on there. The worse of the 2 came out with a higher rating because of fluff The horse was well cared for, the barn was beautiful, but the trainer sucked - 4 stars. Other barn - outstanding trainer, stalls cleaned less frequently, adequate facilities (honestly kind of a dump ) - 3 stars.

I think the point of the $5 is 1. to prevent spam bots 2. prevent pissed 14 year olds from rating barns/trainers and 3. prevent spur-of-the-moment, regrettable reviews. Anyone who bothers to pay that $5 probably has something legitimate to share.

I do agree that I wish people could read full reviews without paying though. If you're a rank beginner or coming into a new city/state, the site is probably going to provide you with the most honest reviews on places and people.

I wouldn't mind paying $5 as a one-time fee in order to be able to leave reviews. What troubles me is that you have to pay the fees in order to read the reviews. That seems entirely defeating to me, because if the purpose is to get information out there and available on who is good and who is not, shouldn't it be available to everyone? I get wanting to verify who's actually doing the reviewing, but why do you need to verify a reader?

I admit, I've never seen their forms. I *might* have bought into the idea of CC verification for people wanting to leave ratings, but the fact that they require people to fork over a CC number just to *read* the ratings makes the site useless IMO. QUOTE]

I think the point of the $5 is 1. to prevent spam bots 2. prevent pissed 14 year olds from rating barns/trainers and 3. prevent spur-of-the-moment, regrettable reviews. Anyone who bothers to pay that $5 probably has something legitimate to share.

I do agree that I wish people could read full reviews without paying though. If you're a rank beginner or coming into a new city/state, the site is probably going to provide you with the most honest reviews on places and people.

I have to agree with you regarding the CC fee. While I don't like giving my CC info, I understand that the small $5 fee makes me think about the site and also makes me take time before posting anything. I have used the site and regularly check it out. I have seen some harsh reviews for places however there have been explanations as to why the place received a negative review. I also know that unless there is a written explanation, I take the review with a grain of salt. I have placed 1-2 reviews on there and think that too often a bad barn opinion can ruin a good review of a trainer and vice versa. I believe it is a GREAT guide but you still have to do your research. And yes, the CC fee does prevent reviews from people like pissy 14 year olds. In fact being at a horse show back in November I heard 2 very disgruntled ladies saying how they tried to go on the site and tell people what they really thought about a certain facility. They said the $5 kept them from sharing their "opinion". It protects facilties and people from raters like those women.

I have tried to use it, but I don't want to pay $5 and expose my cc# only to find out that the pro I am trying to find out about doesn't even have a review, or has a review that doesn't really tell me what I would like to know. If they would even have a snippet of a review or list the "star rating" I would be more inclined to pay. I can see having to pay for the full review, but I think it is asking a lot to have people pay before they even know if the service is going to be useful. It really isn't so much the amount as the fact that even with secure sites it isn't safe to enter your card # online willy-nilly. I do think it is a wonderful idea, but it needs some tweaking to make it a truly valuable resource.

I think it would be a better site if you could read it for free. I understand the $5 for posting stuff, but just to read it is ridiculous! Glad no where else on the internet it like that. What if you have to pay to read a review about a restaurant or a movies etc..

I love cats, I love every single cat....
So anyway I am a cat lover And I love to run.

It works like Angie's List that you see advertised on TV all the time. Angie's List charges a $5.00 sign up fee an then you also pay an annual membership fee. The membership fee is based on where you live zip code). My membership fee was $12.00